Roderick Lemonde MacFarquhar Quotes

Inertia is a powerful force in human and political affairs.

The status quo is a powerful force.

When push comes to shove, the status quo is a very powerful force.

The first resistance to social change is to say it's not necessary.

Man is by nature a conservative animal and government is his instrument for preventing rapid change.

The adherents of the old order have a powerful ally in the natural law of inertia inherent in humanity which is … a natural defense against change.

It is indeed a law of politics as well as of physics, that a body in action must overcome a body at rest.

Inertia is as powerful a force in society and politics as it is on physics, and effecting change can be demanding and discouraging.

It is always wiser, where there is a choice, to trust inertia. It is the greatest force in the world.

The people are difficult to govern: It is because those in authority are too fond of action [change].

England is a slow moving country, reluctant to change—deeply reluctant to change.

Change is strong, but habit is strong too; and you cannot change the old for new, like a garment.

As if governed by Newton's First Law of Motion, an institution will resist any change in its current direction.

The perils of change are so great the promise of the most hopeful theories is so often deceptive, that it is frequently the wiser part to uphold the existing state of things, if it can be done, even though, in point of argument, it should be utterly indefensible.

I don't like change that much.

I think people don't really like change.

I don't like change.

We accept the verdict of the past until the need for change cries out loudly enough to force upon us a choice between the comforts of inertia and the irksomeness of action.

Our approach is very much profiting from lack of change rather than from change.

I'm all for prosperity. It's change I object to.

Conservatism is the maintenance of conventions already in force.

We have conferred a mystic popularity upon officials whose only virtue is their timidity; while our scorn of rebels and reformers is so great that we have ceased to persecute them. The capitals and governments of the world are in the hands of caution; and change comes over them only in the night, unseen.

The reality is, some people don't want you to change or go anywhere different.

It will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and those who want to maintain the status quo.

Seabeck is slow to change.